Why the Swiss Were Right to Prohibit Construction of MinaretsIslam, unlike Christianity, has a political dimension that the West must reject.

The European media are crowded with editorials condemning the Swiss for voting to prohibit the construction of any more minarets in their country. Here in Norway, the newspaper Dagsavisen went furthest of all, devoting its entire front page on Monday to a comparison of the entire nation of Switzerland with Nazi brownshirts. The front-page illustration did not admit to misinterpretation: the Swiss were Nazis, period.

Virtually all of the media went on autopilot in their abuse of the Swiss. What is at issue is the supposedly "sacred" freedom of religion, which has become an icon especially among left-wing intellectuals and the European niceness industry as a whole. But hold it for one second: As far as I've noticed, no major commentator or intellectual who has blasted Switzerland for this plebiscite has taken into account Islam's political content. Can anyone in my own country of Norway, for example, point to a single — I repeat, a single — Muslim congregation within our borders that is secular? That is, a single congregation that rejects sharia and Islam's political ambitions?

In any event, thanks to the Swiss minaret vote, Islam and Christianity are yet again being brought together in a forced marriage. A minaret, we keep being told, is just like a church spire. Nothing new there: When it comes to Islam, the editorialists, columnists, and talking heads simply can't or won't face reality. These "decent" people are appalled by the Swiss people's rejection of minarets — period. Yes, I'll be the first to admit that the case is a disagreeable one — but if so, it's because Islam is itself disagreeable. To put it bluntly, a mosque with minarets is not the equivalent of a church with a spire. Why? Because Europe's churches have no political agenda, and because they aren't obsessed with the painstaking study of ancient "divine" laws that are consistently placed above secular law.